How to Add an Axis Title to an Excel Chart. By: Aaron Parson. Turn on axis titles in Excel 2013's Chart Elements menu or the Layout tab in earlier versions of Excel. Some types of charts, such as pie charts, cannot use axis titles and do not display the option. To link an axis title to an existing cell, select the title, click in the.
You can add titles to an Excel 2010 chart to help describe its purpose. By default, titles are not added when you create a basic chart, but you can add them later manually. In addition to a main chart title that is generally displayed above a chart, you can add descriptive titles to the x-axis (category axis) and the y-axis (value axis).
Follow these steps to insert and edit chart titles in Excel 2010:
Click anywhere on the chart you want to modify.
On the Chart Tools Layout tab, click the Chart Title button in the Labels group.
A list of options appears:
None: This choice means you don’t want to display a title. Also use this option to remove a chart title you don’t want.
Centered Overlay Title: Centers the title over the chart but retains the existing size of the chart.
Above Chart: Centers the title over the chart but adds room at the top so the title doesn’t interfere with the chart itself.
Make a selection from the Chart Title drop-down list.
A box with the words Chart Title appears on the chart.
Double-click the new text box that says “Chart Title” and drag across the words Chart Title.
The words become highlighted.
Type the desired title.
(Optional) To format a title, select it and, on the Chart Tools Layout tab, click Chart Title→More Title Options, and customize to your heart’s content.
The Format Chart Title dialog box appears. Click any tab and choose any formatting options you want to apply to the title. Click Close when you’re done.
(Optional) To add an axis title, click the Axis Titles button on the Chart Tools Layout tab, and then select the axis and the type of title you want to add. Repeat Steps 4–6 to edit the axis title.
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I am trying to show the overtime trend in a graph form, comparing last year by pay period to this year. Because the pay period dates are different year over year, I can't use dates in my graph, so I have gone into the original data and put the pay period number next to the date. Also in the original data is the month the pay period is in. I got the graph to work with the pay period numbers as a horizontal axis at the bottom, but how do I add the month at the top as an additional horizontal axis, like in the example below (which came from a different program)? Unless you know what month the pay period is in off the top of your head, the graph isn't very helpful without the month reference at the top. Please let me know if this is possible. Thanks!